Mail-bag deliverer.



No. 831.952. PATENTED SEPT. 25, 1906. F.-M. HURLEY. MAIL BAG DELIVBRER.

APPLIOATION'FILED JULY 28, 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTED SEPT. 25, 1906:

P. M. HURLE Y.

MAIL BAG DELIVEREIL,

APPLICATION FILED JULY 28, 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET gv Y Wu 0., WAsHINornN, n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MAIL-BAG DELIVERER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

- Patented Sept. 25, 1906.

Application filed July 28,1906. Serial No. 328,161.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK M. HURLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Blissfield, in the county of Coshocton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail-Bag Deliverers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in devices for catching mail-bags by rapidly-moving trains, and has particular reference to an improved construction of trip device so arranged as to permit the impact of the mail-bag in the bag-receiving hook to free the said hook from its outwardly-projecting position in the cardoor and allow the hook with the bag supported therein to be drawn automatically within the car.

The object of my invention is to provide an improved construction of device of this character which will be composed of few and comparatively simple parts, that may be cheaply manufactured and readily assembled, and which will be durable and efficient in operation.

For a full description of the invention and the merits thereof and also to acquire a knowledge of the details of construction of the means for effecting the result reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating my invention embodied in a railway mailcar, a portion of which is broken away to show the mechanism on its interior. Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view illustrating the parts in withdrawn position. Fig. 3 is a detail longitudinal section of the carriage which supports the upper end of the post of the device and illustrates said carriage in engagement with a latch-hook employed. Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view illustrating substantially the parts that are shown in Fig. 3. Figs. 5 and 6 are detail sectional views of the cam-block employed and the link-rods connected thereto.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

On the floor of the mail-car is arranged a transversely-extending track 1, in which the base 2 of a post is mounted to run, said base in the present instance being in the form of a roller, as shown. The post (designated 3) is supported on the said base 2 and has a pivotal movement thereon and on a carriage 4 at its upper end, so that the said post maybe turned about its longitudinal axis or in a horizontal plane. The carriage 4 comprises a casing 5 and four pairs of supporting-wheels 6, two upper pairs and two lower pairs, said wheels being mounted upon spindles 7 and adapted to run upon a transverse elevated rail 8, extending from one side doorway of the car to the opposite doorway. A bagcatching hook 9 is provided with a shank 10, which is mounted to turn in the post 3, so that its hook may face in one direction or the reverse. The hook 9 is provided with a web formed with an aperture 11.

The rail 8 is formed with apertures or sockets 12 12 near its ends. A spring 13 is secured at one end to the post 3, and the other end of said spring is secured to the pin 14, having a reduced neck 15 and an enlarged head 16, so that the pin may be inserted in either one of the apertures 12 or 12 and be detachably secured to the rail 8 near one end or the other. By this means the tension of the spring may be exerted to pull the post backwardly, so as to draw the bag-catching hook into the car after the bag is caught.

Alatch-hook 17 is mounted at one end of the elevated rail 8, said hook being of bell-crank form and having a spring 18 adapted to press its hookarm downwardly into engagement with one of the upper pintles 7 of the wheels 6, so as to hold the post 3 near one doorway or the other, and consequently hold the bag-catching hook 9 in a projected position with respect to the car in order to catch a mail-bag as the car travels along. The latch-arm 19 of each latch-hook 17 extends downwardly, as shown, into operative engagement with a block 20, mounted to slide transversely of the rail 8 and provided with two cams 21 and 21*- and two slots 22 and 22*. By moving this block 20 in one direction or the other one cam or the other is caused to ride uponthe latch-arm 19 and cause the latch-hook to be raised out of engagement with the spindle 7, with which it has been engaged, so as to permit the spring 13 to withadapted to enter the aperture 11 in the bagcatching hook 9. Springs 27 are secured to the link-rods 23 to retract the same, said springs being preferably secured also to one of a pair of stops 28, which limit the movement of the levers 24.

In the practical operation of my improved mechanism the post is moved along the rail 8 and track 1 until the latch-hook 17 has engaged a pintle 7. Then the bag-catching hook 8, as is manifest, will be held in a projected position out of the doorway of the car, so as to be in readiness for catching the mail bag held in any suitable support along the track. WVhen in this position, it is to be understood that a trigger 25 is connected to the said bag-catching hook 9, as before described. As the train travels along the projected hook 9 will catch a mail-bag, and the impact of the bag will obviously throw the hook backwardly, so as to push the trigger 25 back, and consequently rock the lever 24 to push the connected rod 23, and thereby cause one of the cams on the block 20 to ride upon the latch-arm 19 and cause the release of the latch-arm 17, whereupon the spring 12 will be allowed to act and draw the entire device, with the mailbag, back into the car. As the bagcatching hook 9 is mounted. to turn in the post 3, which supports it, so as to face in one direction or the other, according to the direction in which the car is moving, two triggers and their concomitant parts are arranged at opposite sides of the doorway of thecar, and that trigger is secured to the bageatching hook, which will be pushed backwardly to perform its releasing action, as above described, which is on the rear side of the hook, according as the hook is placed in one position or the reverse. Furthermore, as the post 3 is mounted to turn on its supporting-base and carriage 4 it is obvious that the hook 9 may be projected out of either doorway, because -I have provided for this action, owing to the fact that in some instances the mail-bag along the track will be at one side of the car and in some instances on the other side. It is of course to be understood that there are a pair of releasing devices constituted by the triggers and their connected parts at each doorway of the car. When the post 3 is reversed, the pin 14 is moved from one aperture or socket to the other, so as to secure the proper retractile action.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is- 1. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a bag-catching hook, means for holding said hook in a projected position from a car, said means includinga trigger connected. to the hook, a lever connected to the trigger, a link-rod connected to said lever,

a cam block operatively connected to said link-rod, a latch-hook, and a support for the bag-catching hook, said support being arranged for engagement by said latch-hook, and a spring tending to draw said support backwardly in the car.

2. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a bag-catching hook, a support therefor, a latch-hook adapted for engagement with said support and designed to hold the support with the bag-catching hook in a projected position from the car, a cam-block adapted to disengage said latch-hook from the said support, a spring tending to withdraw the support and bag-catching hook backwardly in the car, and a trigger arranged for connection to the bag-catching hook and operatively connected to said cam-block, for

the purpose specified.

3. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a post, a bag-catching hook carried by said post, a latch-hook arranged for connection to a portion of the post, a camblock adapted to release said latch-hook, and a trigger arranged for detachable connection to said bag-catching hook and operatively connected to said cam-block.

4. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a bag-catching hook, a post supporting said hook, a transverse elevated rail, a carriage connected to the upper part of said. post and mounted to travel on said rail, a spring-pressed latch-hook designed for engagement with said carriage whereby to hold the bag-catching hook in a projected position from the car, means for automatically withdrawing said post and its bag-catching hook, a cam-block supported on said rail and arranged for operative engagement with said latch-hook to release the same, and means whereby the impact of the bag within the hook will actuate said cam-block.

5. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a post, an elevated traveling support carrying said post, and with which. the

post is pivotally connected to turn in a horizontal plane, a bag-catching hook carried on said. post and adapted to be projected out of either doorway of the car, according as the post is turned in one direction or the reverse, a spring adapted to draw the post back into the car, and arranged to be reversed, to withdraw the post in one direction or the opposite, means for holding the post with its bagcatching hook contiguous to either doorway of the car, and means whereby the impact of a bag in the hook will release the holding means.

6. An apparatus of the character described comprising a post adapted to move transversely of a car, a bag-catching hook secured by said post, a carriage provided with wheels and an elevated rail on which said wheels are designed to run, said carriage supporting the post at its upper end, a latch-hook arranged for engagement with said carriage to hold the post near the car-doorway with the hook in projected position therefrom, a camblock arranged to disengage said hook, a link-rod connected to said cam-block, a spring for retracting said link-rod, a lever fulcrumed intermediate its ends within the car and connected at one end to said linkrod, and a trigger connected to the other end of said lever and arranged for engagement with the bag-catching hook.

7. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a bagcatching hook provided with an aperture 11, means for holding said hook in a projected position from the trigger of a car, said means including a springpressed latch-hook and a traveling support for the bag-catching hook with which said latch-hook is designed to engage, means for disengaging said hook from the traveling support, said means including a trigger provided at one end with a hook adapted to enter the aperture in the bag-catching hook whereby the impact of a mail-bag in the bagcatching hook will actuate said trigger, and means for automatically withdrawing the hook into the car.

8. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of a bag-catching hook, a vertical post by which said hook is carried, a traveling support with which said post has a pivotal connection so that it may be turned in a horizontal plane, whereby to reverse the bag-catching hook, an elevated rail upon which the traveling support runs, means for holding the bag-catching hook in a projected position from the door of the car, means for releasing said hook, a spring adapted to withdraw the hook and the traveling support back into the car, and means for connecting said spring to the elevated rail at either side of the traveling support, for the purpose specified.

9. In an apparatus of the character described, a bag-catching hook, a post upon which said hook is carried, said post being axially movable whereby to reverse the bagcatching hook, an elevated traveling support for said post, a rail upon which said traveling support is mounted to run, a spring connected at one end to said post and provided at its other end with a pin, the rail being provided near each end with an aperture in either of which said pin may be engaged whereby the tension of the spring may be eX- erted on the post in one direction or the opposite, means for holding the post adjacent the door of the car whereby the bag-catching hook will be held in projected position from the car, and means for automatically releasing said holding means.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRANK M. HURLEY. [L. s.]

Witnesses:

ELMER L. FOX, W. H. MONEAL. 

